You know, I read the article and saw the mural...I don't know what to make of it. I'm not offended--I don't think that's ever a good stance to take with art--but I would be curious to know what the artist himself was trying to say, if anything.
Ever read that book...I think it was called Asher Lev? It's this Jewish kid who has a knack for painting and his parents VERY reluctantly allow him to get an art teacher and he has to paint all these nudes and what-not. At first, as a member of this church, the material was...difficult for me. The idea of a ten-year-old kid looking at all these naked women wasn't that easy for me to stomach (we read the book as part of the curriculum here at BYU, which seemed odd, but okay). This kids magnum opus was of his naked mother strung up, crucifix-style over the window she always sat at waiting for Asher's father to come home. It was apparently very graphic and disturbing and after seeing it, Asher's parents refused to speak to him, but when you contemplate the meaning of such an image within the context of Asher Lev's story, it's incredibly powerful and in no way should be take as offensive. This mural painting looks a little latin to me. I'm curious if the artist was latin and what perspective and experience he had that caused him to depict something. Perhaps he was just painting his own wish. In which case I'd like to know why he'd like to see the temple burned to the ground. Or perhaps it was a symbol of something else. I don't know. Part of the fun of art is just allowing people to respond individually to it and see what comes out. Maybe he just wanted to make people react. He certainly got that.
Anyway, like I said, I'm not offended by it. I can't be. How can something offend me that I don't even understand?
